This area of the Andes is known for many hot springs. However, in the heyday of the Argentine’s boom in 1904 the spa at Cacheuta was developed on a massive scale. Financed by the issue of shares to speculative investors, a very substantial and luxurious hotel was built on the hillside above the river, with a bathing establishment below consisting of a large space lit from roof lanterns with individual bathrooms leading off it.
old train at the Cacheuta station.
The establishment achieved particular success through its link with the
Transandine Railway, which opened in 1910. The line ran straight past the hotel, and a special railway station was erected there, about 1 km east of the station in Cacheuta village. Passengers alighting on the platform at the spa station would descend a staircase directly into the spa hotel, while their luggage would be brought down in a lift constructed within a tower modelled on an Italian
campanile. Special packages and excursions were offered, and a wide range of glittering special events were celebrated in the local press.
In 1934, however, there was calamity: a glacial flood roared down the Mendoza canyon and completely destroyed the spa. The establishment never recovered to it's massive scale.
